About Jurek Maslanka

Born in 1966 in Myslenice near Krakow in Poland, Jerzy Maslanka showed an early interest in woodwork. On leaving school, he attended a three year course in woodwork, and was awarded a diploma as a master craftsman. He was required to do two years of National Service as a lorry driver and technician with the Polish Army from 1987-1989, before moving to England to continue his studies in a further three year course at Merton Technical College.

During his time at Merton, he bacame increasingly drawn to instrument making and restoration, and on his graduation in 1993, he was engaged to work at Malsolm Tysoe Violins in Farnborough Village, Kent. Since then, he has made many fine instruments and bows, and has undertaken a number of major restorations on important old instruments, on occasions using advanced pioneering techniques. Since 2004 he has built his own workshop in Krakow, and he now divides his time between Poland and England.